This invention pertains to a cloud control agent for foods and particularly clouding agents for the beverages such as soft drinks and other aqueous beverages.
Cloud control agents are often utilized in beverages to control clouding which results from the use of oil-soluble flavors in combination with an essential oil which can be dispersed in aqueous systems. In the past, the beverage industry utilized brominated vegetable oil and ester gum to control the cloud characteristics in the finished beverage. Although these cloud control agents have provided adequate cloud control to beverages, these additives have become somewhat restricted for food use by government regulations.
It now has been found that certain combinations of ethoxylated monoglyceride essential oils can effectively disperse the essential oils into water media and produce a diverse range of opacity wherein the amount of transparency or opacity of the beverage can be controlled by adjusting the ratio of ethoxylated monoglyceride to essential oils wherein the ratio between 0.01 to 2 weight parts of ethoxylated monoglyceride are combined with 1 weight part of essential oil.